Fuel stations typically have several fuel/gas pumps to sell fuel to motorists. In order to prevent contaminates such as sludge or sediment from being pumped into the fuel tanks of vehicles, the fuel pumps generally include fuel filters to strain the fuel prior to dispensing into the tank of a customer's vehicle. Typically a separate filter is required for each grade of fuel supplied to each dispenser so that a single fuel dispenser may have three or more filters. When the filters function as designed, the filter will eventually become clogged and fuel flow through the dispenser will become degraded and the dispenser will no longer operate. In many modern fuel dispensing stations, the station will be staffed by clerks who are not qualified to perform any sort of maintenance on the fuel dispensers and when a dispenser stops operating the clerks may be unaware that an interruption has occurred and even when the interruption in operation is discovered, all that can be done is to call in a person skilled in repair of the pumps to diagnose the cause of the interruption.
In view of the foregoing it can be seen that there is a need for a new fuel dispenser monitoring system to provide operating diagnostics and automated maintenance requests to enhance the operability of fuel delivery systems.